Ash tray and token holder combination



May l 1, .1943.

F. L. WEISS ASH TRAY AND TOKEN momma COMBINATION Filed July 7, 1939INVENTOR Patented May 11, 1943 UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE ASH TRAY ANDTOKEN HOLDER COMBINATION Frank L. Weiss, New York, N. Y. ApplicationJuly 7, 1939, Serial 190,233,135 a 1 Claim. (o 1a1--2s5) This inventionpertains to a combination device for the retention and stacking ofmultiple sets of tokens or coins and for the collection and retention ofsmokers refuse, such as ashes, partly consumed cigars, cigarets and thelike.

Sinceit is usual that persons engaged in gaming at the same time engagein smoking, it has been found desirable to provide in a single unit someform of receptacle which can at the same time function to retain instacks the tokens used in the games, such as coins, or so-called playingchips, and which will simultaneously function to hold-the refuse whichis derived from the smoking of the players.

It has hitherto been the custom for a separate receptacle to be providedsolelyfor the purpose of the collection of smokers refuse. When a singlereceptacle is made to function for the use of the plurality of playerswho are necessarily present at games, such receptacle will speedilybecome filled, if it be made of a size which may conveniently be placedupon the surface of the table where the gaming is .taking place. If madelarge enough to be placed upon "the floor, it can be convenientlyaccessibleto only two players, and furthermore itis extremely liable tobe accidentally overturned under such circumstances, unless elaborateand expensive devices are used to minimize the danger ofsuchoverturning. on the other hand if separate ash traysbe provided foreach player, the trays will take uproom and interfere with .his stackingof tokens, so that under such circumstances the possibility of ac-:cidental mixture of the contents of the ash tray with tokens is everpresent. v

' The present invention overcomes the d'ifficul-' ties, just describedby providing aplurality of combined ash .trays and token holders, onefor each player. Thus each player can have before him all of his tokensstacked in such fashion as to be readily available, and his individualash tray, the two articles being so combined that intermixture of thecontents of the twoflis not liable to accidental occurrence, --and thetable space taken up by the combination article is only slightly greaterthan that which would be occupied byan individual ash tray alone. a

One object of the present invention is to provide an individualcombination ash tray and token holder which will be light in weight,at-' tractive in appearance, and which may be filled with tokens priorto the actual commencement of a game, so that time Will not be consumedin dealing out tokens, as is customarily necessary.

in a device of this combination character, means for retaining a numberof tokens of various sizes, colors or appearances, such asarecustomarily used to represent diiferent monetary values, eachseparate denomination being retained in its individual compartment,whereby the removal of a predetermined total monetaryvalue of tokens, bythe player, is greatly facilitated, as also is; the re-stackingof tokenstaken in by the player.

A yet further object of this invention is .to providela combinationdevice of this character which may belmolded from suitable plasticmaterial in a form having pockets, the interior of which may be used to'snufi out the unconsumed portion of cigarets, so as to avoid thecontinued combustion thereof, when the smokerhas finished his use ofthecigaretf I T ff A still further purpose fofthis' invention is to soform the pockets of the device that'thie projecting portions of the legsof one tray ,Will fit within the pockets of another ash tray, therebyallowing the individual trays to be stacked upon one another when not inuse, even though the token compartments contain a number ofjtokenstherein, andthe'interfitting of the 'legs of the separate trayspreventing such trays from being accidentally dislodged from the stackof trays, as 'Well as, aiding in retaining the tokens in each tray. r

I may additionally provide spring retaining means for. holding togetherthe trays into a stack of the character just described, and may formthis springretaining means so that a portion thereof may, serve as ahandle whereby to carry about the once-assembled stackof trays.

Furthermore, I may so form the spring retaining means,,so as to allowits use fora purpose analogous to the rake of the croupier, as employedin gaming practice, 1. e., to shove or push about upon the surface ofthe gaming table, tokens which are lying upon'such surface. I

' In addition I may provide a covering means which may be placed uponthe topmost of the trays. after these latter have-been stacked together,and which Will function to retain in their respective compartments thetokens which are in such topmost tray, the tokens in the other trays ofthe stack being retained in their proper corn- 'partments by thefunctioning of the bottoms of the respective trays which are situatedimmediately above and thus serve as retaining covers for such tokenslying directly therebeneath.

The handle member itself may serve to hold at least some of the tokensin their respective Another object of this invention is to providepockets.

Other purposes and advantages of this invention will be apparent from aninspection of the hereunto attached drawing where:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one of the units of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevationpartly in cross section, illustrating the way in which two units of myinvention interlock with one another. v I Fig. 4 is a side elevation ofthe composite struc ture formed by the interlocking of several unitswith a handle.

Referring now especially to Figs. 1 and 2, ther is shown a flat body Iof suitable design formed of any suitable material, such as moldedplastics of the phenolic condensation or other types.

This is provided with a recess 8, serving as a I refuse receptacle.

open at the edge and provided with flanges H), of a size and shapesuitable for the stacking of tokens ll, of any suitable kind. Theprojecting lips l2 of the cut away portions, serve to retain tokens inplace, so that they can only be removed through the upper surface of thebody 1. The recesses 9 are open at the top and bottom so as to permitthe tokens to be grasped between Directly beneath each pocket 13 therecontinues Along a, portion of the edge of the body, there aretoken-receiving recesses 9 a downwardly projecting leg 15, of smallerdiameter than the pocket. v

' Referring now additionally to Fig. 3, there is here illustrated themanner in which one of the legs l5 will fit into the packet I3of theunit lying directly beneath it, when two units are being assembled orstacked upon one another, forpurposes of storage and carriage; In Fig. 4there are shown four such units which have been interlocked with oneanother after the fashion shown in Fig. 3, but with the interlockingcomplete, so that the adjacent surfaces of each unit are in closecontact with each other, thereby preventing the tokens lying in thelower chambers 9 from falling out after the units have been assembled.However, it will be noted that the tokens'in the unit which is uppermostof the stack will'not have lying thereover any such retaining means.ThereforeI may provide a disc :IB, to cover the topmost tray. This discis conveniently made from any suitable material such as a plastic, andmay be transparentif so de-' sired. This disc is preferably of the samediam-j eter as the unit trays, land may be of any suits able thickness,according to the material of which it is formed.

The assembled trays and the retaining disc are conveniently heldtogether by a clamp memj 7 ber ll, of flat metal or similar material,such as spring strip, and is slightly springy, yielding enough to allowits clamping over the assembled trays. The upper end 18 of member I!forms a handle and when the member is removed and the trays separated,the handl may be used to shove about tokens upon a table surface.

The locking devices of this device may be formed other than as legs, andmay extend either upwardly or downwardly to engage the adjacent tray ina vertical direction.

The upper surface of one or all of the bodies I may have shallow notchessuch as I9, 20 to -position the clamp member I! in case the disc is notused. In fact, the clamp member l1 may serve to assist in holding atleast some of the tokens in the respective top chambers by simply 5applying the clamp member over the chambered portion of the body.

The combination device serves to hold a number of sets of tokens in sucha manner that they can all be handled as a, unit, the trays beingseparated when desired and distributed to the individual players.

While I have shown the trays as approximately circular it should beunderstood that so far as this application-is concerned they might haveany desired configuration, such as square, pentagonal, hexagonal,octagonal, etc.

I claim:

In a combination token and ash holder formed in a plurality of sections,means acting as a sup porting leg, as a cigar snufier and as a detent tohold said sections in a predetermined stacked relationship, said meansincluding a member having a hollow part, said member projectingdownwardly from the base of each section, the hollow part being closedat the bottom and open at the top, the exterior of said member being sodimensioned as to fit snugly within the interior of a; similar memberupon another section when the V other section is stacked below the firstsection, and so as to act as a detent between said sections, the hollowinterior of said part acting as a snuffer and said member also acting asa supporting leg when said sections are separated, each section beingadditionally provided with shallow depressions each having asubstantially fiat bottom, upon a portion of the surface thereof and inline with one another and also including a single relatively narrowstrip of substantially flat, resilient material formed of a widthcorresponding to the width of said depressions so as to fit at leastpartly therewithin when said sections are stacked, said strip beingformed in a U-shape having the respective legs of'the U pressing uponthe outside surface of the top andbottom sections of a stack'and havingthe cross portion of the U lying along the sides of all the sectionswhen stacked, saidstrip also including an integral portion bent backwardso as to project into free space andconstitute a handle for the stack ofsections. c 7 FRANKL. WEISS.

